


Not all Monsters Appear as One on the Outside

by darumasama



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: !child Will, !monster Nico, Child Abuse, Happy Ending, M/M, Protective Nico, Will eventually grows up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24754072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darumasama/pseuds/darumasama
Summary: “I give up” Percy said with annoyed sigh as he picked at his sea green scales with his long claws. “That boy isn’t afraid of monsters.”“Over the past two years that boy hasn’t been afraid of any monsters assigned to him.” Jason frowned as he read the report, his feather slightly ruffled from annoyance. “I guess all we have left is you, Ghost King.”Nico smiled as the shadows collected around him darkening the entire room, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Yes, I guess all you have is me.” He took the boy’s file before he disappeared into the darkness seeking his prey.**changed some tags and warnings now that this will be continued by request**
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 52
Kudos: 177





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I was bored and trying to think of inspiration to continue the works that haven't updated in a while, then I came across this story that someone had turned into a comic. I don't know why, but I made it into this. 
> 
> I don't take credit for this story really, because it follows the same basic plot, just puts Will and Nico into two of the characters. I found the article at boredpanda.com, but for some reason am having issues getting the link on here.
> 
> let's see if this works now:  
> https://www.boredpanda.com/monster-comics-jwitless-art/
> 
> I don't have a beta reader, so I just edit real quick. Sorry for any errors.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like it. :)

“I give up” Percy said with annoyed sigh as he picked at his sea green scales with his long claws. “That boy isn’t afraid of monsters.”

“Over the past two years that boy hasn’t been afraid of any monsters assigned to him.” Jason frowned as he read the report, his feather slightly ruffled from annoyance. “I guess all we have left is you, Ghost King.”

Nico smiled as the shadows collected around him darkening the entire room, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Yes, I guess all you have is me.” He took the boy’s file before he disappeared into the darkness seeking his prey.

****  
Nico arrived at the small rundown house, as a clash of lightning reflected his shadowy form for a split second before he faded back into the darkness. Slowly he crept up to the window to the boy’s room and peaked in at the blonde boy as he slept with a little sun pillow. With a low chuckle he allowed the shadows to consume him as he pushed past the false barrier that humans thought could protect them. He slowly followed the shadows across the room to under the bed where the boy slept and made odd noise as to rouse the boy from his slumber already afraid. He commanded the shadows to swirl around his arm to form long shadowy claws and slowly went to reach for the sleeping boy. As his claw reached out to touch the boy, deep blue eyes opened, but not in fear.

“I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Monster.” the blonde said with a small smile.

Nico remained frozen as his brain tried to catch up to what was happening. There had never been a child that wasn’t afraid of him. Better yet, the boy had smiled at him? Before he could ask any questions to boy a loud bang came from the bedroom door. 

“WILL!” a man’s voice boomed. “Open the door!”

The boy, Will, let out a small whimper and curled in on himself in fear. Another loud bang from the door, and the boy jumped out of bed down to the floor. He started to crawl under the bed next to Nico, eyes wide in terror. 

“Move over, please.” Will whispered, his blue eyes filled with held back tears. The Ghost King, frowned, but did as the child asked surprised when he felt the warm body curled up next to his. Not a moment later the door slammed open as a large brutish man strolled in, cigarette in his mouth, a belt in his hand.

“Well, well,” the man said as he slapped the belt on his other hand threateningly. “It seems you want to play multiple games tonight.” Nico looked over at the boy next him, he trembled with fear as tears streaked his tan freckled cheeks, a hand over his mouth as he tried to remain quiet as if it would keep him hidden. When he looked at the bruises covering the thin arms of Will, he felt anger boil deep from within him. The man’s amused chuckle made him look back towards the entrance from under the bed to see the man had crouched down and started reaching his hand under the bed, unable to see him or the boy with his shadows surrounding them.

“Come to daddy,” the man laughed as he grabbed for the boy. The Ghost King allowed the man to grab onto his shadow clad arms. He smirked at the surprised expression of the man as he slowly emerged from the shadows under the bed. The shadows surged around him, made his form larger and scarier. The shadowed adapted to reflect the greatest fear the man had.

“Yes,” Nico growled. “I would like to play.” Wide brown eyes looked up at him in shock as the cigarette fell out of the speechless man’s mouth. A shadowy claw snuck its way around the man’s neck as he brought his terrifying face closer and lifted the man up.

“Not so bold now, huh?” The Ghost King chuckled evilly. “Did you swallow your tongue, trash? Maybe I should rip this filthy tongue off and kill you.” His grip tightened around the man’s neck ready to snap it without a second thought.

“No Mr. Monster!” Will shouted as he sprinted out from under the bed and wrapped his small arms around Nico’s free arm. “Please! You don’t have to kill him!” 

“Yes, please!” The man begged. “I’ll never hurt him again! I promise!”

Nico huffed, “If you ever touch, scare or harm MY Will again, I will find you and I will do the same to you that you have done to him for all eternity.” His eyes glowed red to reenforce that he was not meant to be messed with as he threw the man down.

“I-I-I’m sorry!” the man shouted as he scrambled out the door. The warmth on Nico’s arm tightened a bit as Will snuggled closer to him with a relieved sigh. A soft “Thank you,” came from the face buried in his arm. He willed the shadows to slowly disappear to show his true form, his human form. Slowly, he raised his hand up to run his fingers through Will’s blonde curls.

Will looked up at him with a bright smile. “I knew monsters weren’t scary.”

“You’re an odd child, Will.” Nico replied, but couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at his lips. “You should go to bed.”

“Will you stay with me Mr. Monster?” Will asked with a pleading look. The Ghost King, despite his reputation as the world’s scariest monster, couldn’t deny Will’s request.

“Sure, Sunshine.” He replied with another smile leading the boy back to his bed. Will let out a small yawn as he snuggled under the covers with his sun pillow. He scooted back a little and patted the open space on the bed.

“Mr. Monster...”

“Nico.” Nico interrupted. Will blinked at him with his bright blue eyes before he gave another bright smile.

“Nico,” he whispered. “Nico should rest too. Awesome monster powers like that must make you tired.” Unable to deny the boy’s request yet again, Nico crawled into the bed so that blue and obsidian eyes could stare at each other. Will shyly took Nico’s hands into his own as let out a sigh of relief. 

“It’s funny Nico,” Will said with a huge yawn. “that my monster would be just a kid like me.” Sleep tugged those blue eyes closed, but a smile still remained on his face. Nico smiled as he placed a soft kiss on top of those wild blonde curls before he also fell asleep. He would never let anything bad happen to Will ever again. He was Will’s monster after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!!! There is some child abuse in this chapter.
> 
> Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

When Will woke up his monster, Nico, was gone. It made him sad, but he figured that monsters must not like the sunlight considering they only came out at night. Besides, Nico was a shadow monster so it would make sense he wouldn’t like the day. He slowly got out of bed and checked under it, just in case Nico was just hiding. He pursed his lips in disappointment when his monster wasn’t there. With a sigh, he started to get ready for school. Since it was November the weather was a little on the cooler side for Austin, Texas so he chose to wear a long sleeve shirt to help cover the bruises on his arms. There were only so many excuses he could make to his teachers and mother as to where they came from. Of course Kyle, his step-father, tended not to do anything to him if his mother was coming home to visit from her tour. While he hated his step-father, his mother loved him, so Will remained silent. He wanted his mother to be happy and have the peace of mind to pursue her dreams. Even if he had to suffer with Kyle and not seeing her as much as he would like. He only wished he could go with her year-round instead of only during school breaks, but she insisted that he stayed in school. She told him that being in school was important especially if he wished to be a doctor one day. Of course, now he had Nico, so maybe everything wouldn’t be so bad anymore. As quietly as he could, he made is way through the house and out the door so Kyle wouldn’t wake up. Kyle was always super grumpy in the morning if Will woke him up. 

Will hummed to himself as he made his way down the dirt path to the road where the bus would pick him up. As he waited, he wondered what Nico was doing. The movie ‘Monster’s Inc’ came to mind and wondered if there was some truth to it. Ever since he could remember, monsters would come to scare him and when he was younger they did scare him, until they didn’t. His mother had taken a break from her music career to raise him and got back together with her high school sweetheart Kyle. Eventually they got married and Kyle insisted she picked up where she left off since Will would be in school most of the year anyways. Will didn’t want her to go, but he wanted his mother to be happy. So he helped Kyle convince her to go and that they would be fine without her. Of course, Will had been wrong. After about a month of his mother being gone is when Kyle started hurt him. He didn’t know what he had done wrong, but apparently everything was his fault. He was going to tell his mother about it, but when he heard how happy she on the phone he couldn’t. It was then, when he was six, that the monsters that came to visit him didn’t scare him anymore. They never touched or hurt him, he knew that, so it didn’t make sense to be afraid of them. Kyle on the otherhand, did hurt him, which was much scarier than anything the monsters ever did. 

A smile formed on his lips as he thought of his most recent monster, Nico. It was still funny to him that Nico looked just like a kid like him when he wasn’t trying to be scary. He wondered if all monsters had human forms or what the monster world was like or why they scared kids. There were so many questions he had that he hoped Nico would answer tonight, but for now he had to make it through school. He wondered what his friends Lou Ellen and Cecil would think about him making friends with a monster. Eventually the bus pulled up and he got on. Cecil waved to him from the back seat and he made his way over.

“Hey Cecil,” Will grinned. “You’ll never guess what happened last night!”

“I don’t know,” Cecil replied with a shrug.

“I made friends with the monster under my bed.”

“Whaaat?” Cecil balked, eyes wide. “But they are soooo scary! Why would you even make friends with a monster?” He paused. “Wait.. Hooow did you make friends with a monster?”

Will blushed, “He helped me. Kyle got mad and Nico scared him away for me.” Wide brown eyes just continued to stare in shock. He almost thought Cecil’s face was stuck that way until he frowned and crossed his arms.

“Was Kyle being mean to you again?” Cecil asked, eyes narrowed.

Will just nodded, “Yeah, but Nico scared him away so I’m fine.”

“Who’s Nico?”

“My monster!” Will grinned brightly.

“Monsters have names?”

“Yep!”

Cecil tapped his chin in thought. “I wonder if I could be friends with my monster.” A Cheshire grin appeared on his face. “Think of all the trouble we could get into!”

“What ya’ll talking about?” Lou Ellen asked as she sat next to Will. 

“Will made friends with his monster.” Cecil answered with a grin. “I might make friends with mine tonight then we are going to get into so much trouble.” Bright green eyes darted between the two boys for a bit as a frown formed upon Lou Ellen’s face. 

“Monsters aren’t supposed to be friends with humans,” Lou Ellen simply stated as if it was obvious.

“How would you know!” Cecil argued with a pout. “You don’t even haaave a monster!”

Lou Ellen just smirked, “Because I am scarier than any monster.” Her green eyes flashed briefly and Will wondered if she was a monster herself. After all, monsters did have human forms. 

“Are you a monster?” Will asked.

Lou Ellen’s smirk just grew, “No, although some people might call me a monster.” Will just stared at his friend completely confused. What was not a monster, but scarier than a monster? Kyle would fit that category, but he doubted that his friend would ever be like him. Maybe Nico would know the answer.

“So,” Lou Ellen continued with narrowed eyes. “How did you become friends with your monster?”

“Oh...umm.” Will started, but didn’t know how to answer. There was something about Lou Ellen’s reaction that made him wonder if Nico had broken some monster rule to save and befriend him. He didn’t want Nico to get into trouble.

“His monster scared Kyle away when he was being mean to Will.” Cecil blurted out before Will could even come up with an answer.

Lou Ellen just nodded, “I see. Well, I am glad he did. Kyle is a big meanie and deserves to be scared. Even though monsters aren’t supposed to show themselves to adults. It can be dangerous.”

“You seem to know a lot about monsters.” Cecil said with a raised eyebrow. “Did you become friends with your monster or something?”

Lou Ellen just smirked again, “I just do my research.” She turned to Will. “So, who is your monster?”

“His name is Nico,” Will beamed with pride. All the color seemed to drain from her face at the name and Will couldn’t figure out why. 

“Be careful with that monster,” Lou Ellen warned. “He is known as the Ghost King for a reason. Legend says that he eats souls and commands an army of the dead.”

“Nico is nice.” Will argued not liking how his friend was talking about his monster. “He protected me and stayed with me all night.”

“Will I just...”

“No!” Will interjected as he turned away with a frown. “I’m done hearing mean things about Nico.” He stubbornly stayed quiet the rest of the bus ride.

***

Will ended up still being angry at Lou Ellen by the end of the school day because she kept trying to warn him about Nico. It wasn’t like she was an expert on monsters so how could she know who Nico was. So instead of taking the bus home he chose to walk. While the school wasn’t terribly far from his house, it was still a good enough distance to where it took him a little over an hour to get home. The house was silent when he arrived, which wasn’t anything new. Kyle tended not to get home until late doing whatever he did. Which is why Will was surprised to see Kyle in his room, everything scattered. He paused in the doorway and looked at the man sitting in the middle of his room unsure of how to approach the situation. 

“What are you staring at?!” Kyle snapped, causing Will to jump. “Clean up this fucking mess then get dinner started brat!” With that being said, he stormed out of Will’s room and downstairs.

With a sigh, he dropped his backpack down at the door before he started cleaning everything up. Blue eyes watered as he cleaned up broken pieces of some of the art projects he had made with his mother. He hoped that she wouldn’t be upset or angry that their hard work was now ruined. It took him a while to get everything back to where it was supposed to be, mainly because some of the furniture was overturned and it was difficult for him to flip it back into place with his small frame. Somehow he had managed it, but he was now covered in sweat from his efforts. 

After a quick shower, he went downstairs to start on dinner. It was never anything fancy, just mainly simple things like boxed mac and cheese or frozen chicken sandwiches. Tonight, he just made a microwaveable frozen pasta meal. Once it was done, he divided it onto two plates, his being a smaller portion and went to the living room. Kyle was on the sofa watching TV smoking a cigarette, two empty bottles of beer on the coffee table. 

“Here you go,” Will offered quietly, wincing slightly when Kyle’s attention turned to him. 

“You’re such a fucking girl,” Kyle commented as he took the plate of food. “Men aren’t timid or afraid of anything. Stand up straight and speak up. Act like a man.”

“Yes sir,” Will said a bit louder as he straightened up. He was not about to remind the man about the previous night and how scared Kyle was when Nico had confronted him. As he was about to leave to go eat his own dinner, Kyle threw the plate on the floor. It shattered with a loud crash causing will to flinch at the sound.

“What the hell you little shit!” Kyle shouted as he grabbed Will’s arm painfully. “It was still cold!” He threw Will towards the broken plate, a stray piece cutting his palm, but he didn’t cry. He knew better than to cry, but he did curl into a ball as he readied himself for what was to come. All he could think about was Nico and hoped his monster would come to rescue him.

“Nico,” He whispered as the side of the belt hit his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! The next chapter will be from Nico's perspective again. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter so soon, I know, but I couldn't get it out of my head so here you are you lucky people. 
> 
> Please enjoy and let me know what you think. :)

Nico tapped his pen on the desk completely and utterly bored of the current meeting he was in. The heads of all the different monsters were there to discuss the recent trend of kids not being scared as much as they used to which only led to the increasing amount of monster hunters. While there had always been monster hunters, the current amount was truly alarming. Monsters were already a dying breed, but at the rate they were going they might all become extinct. He knew he should care more about it, but it wasn’t like there was anything they did would change the matter. Which was why this meeting was so boring, especially for him since he was able to scare any kid, well, besides Will. A smile formed as he thought about Will. Normally when kids weren’t scared of him, he would eventually be able to scare them and he was sure he could have done the same for Will. However, he just couldn’t do it knowing that the boy probably lived in terror every single day. It wasn’t like he hadn’t come upon other children that were being hurt by the adults they lived with and he had intervened then too, even though he wasn’t supposed to. But normally the children would still remain scared of him and other monsters. Yet, Will had hid under the bed with him, hugged him, thanked him and even fell asleep with him. In all his years of being a monster, he had never seen such a thing. 

“Nico!” Jason yelled, snapping him back into reality. “Care to join us?”

Nico frowned, “Not really. I am only here as a formality.” He crossed his arms and put his boots on the desk. “It’s not like anything ever comes from these meeting.”

Jason just sighed in defeat as he just continued the meeting instead of arguing. They both knew that Nico was too stubborn to put any effort into these meetings when it only took away from him helping his fellow monsters. Yet, here he was, wasting time. He would much rather be with Will if he wasn’t going to be scaring anyone. A little fact he kept to himself, because they weren’t supposed to interact with children otherwise. He had even disposed of Will’s file, saying that it wasn’t worth their time. Everyone was shocked by this because it was so rare for Nico to admit that he couldn’t scare a kid. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time before Will where this had happened. Usually they would give up on a kid if they weren’t getting scared anymore if they were over the age of 10. And with Will being only eight and stopped being scared by his monsters at six, it was shocking to most that Nico had just given up. Although, he didn’t mind the small drop in his fright level when he thought about Will. There was this overwhelming sense of protectiveness he felt for the boy that he just couldn’t explain. It was like Will was the light and he was the moth being drawn to it, knowing it was dangerous, but just couldn’t stop. 

Eventually the meeting ended, much to Nico’s delight. He had a bunch of kids lined up to be scared. If he didn’t get these kids to be scared of monsters, then more of them would go hungry. Monsters came into existence by the energy from hundreds of nightmares forming into one which was why they fed off the energy of fear. If someone feared them enough to have nightmares about them, then they were able to survive. Of course over time monsters learned that the older the human was, the harder they were to scare. Even worse, the older they were, the more violent they became to protect themselves and the ones around them. It was an unfair way of life, because monsters weren’t supposed to hurt humans, but humans had hunted them since monsters’ first breath of existence. But it was the way the world worked. And if Nico could help his fellow monsters by making sure that kids remained scared so much so that other monsters still scared them, then so be it. 

Nico glanced down at the long list of names that needed his assistance to becoming scared little kids again. With a heavy sigh, he disappeared into the shadows to start his long journey, but the thought of seeing Will later made him smile. He hoped that wanting to spend more time with Will would help better motivate him to finish the list faster. He had enjoyed cuddling into the boy’s warmth.

***

Nico took a deep breath as he left the room of the current child he was scaring as he checked the name off the list. He added a few notes as to which monsters would be the most efficient in continuing to scare the kid as well as some tips to achieve it. A smile formed when he noticed that there were only three names left on his list, which meant he could go see Will. His internal clock told him that it was only about 6pm in Texas meaning Will would still be up when he arrived.

A sudden chill found its way through him, his senses telling him that something was wrong. His eyes darted around quickly to find the danger he was in, but he couldn’t find it. Another chilling wave crashed through his body, only this time he knew why when the faint whisper of his name echoed in his head. Will was in trouble. Without a second thought, he disappeared into the shadows and reappeared next to Will. His eyes widened as he saw the man from before whip his belt onto a cowering Will’s back. Rage filled him as the shadows grew around him, the temperature dropping so drastically that frost started to form. 

“I warned you not to touch him!” Nico bellowed, the screams of the newly summoned ghosts adding to its effect. 

The man paled as he froze in place, “I...I thought you were just a nightmare.”

“I am a living nightmare.” Nico answered as he stepped protectively in front of Will. “And you will pay for your actions.” His shadow claw grabbed the man’s left arm and twisted his wrist painfully. The cry of pain from the man made him smirk. With his other claw, he started to carve into the man’s arm ‘I am real’ in beautiful cursive lettering, the man‘s screams of pain only encouraging him. “So you never forget the consequences of hurting MY Will.” He knew he shouldn’t be hurting this adult human, but he couldn’t stop. This despicable excuse of a human had hurt his Will again and that was not to be forgiven. A pained gasp behind him reminded him, that as much fun as it was to hurt the human that hurt his Will, Will was injured. He commanded the shadows to keep their terrifying form as he stepped out of them to crouch down next to Will.

Watery blue eyes looked up at him as Will held a bleeding hand to his chest. Despite everything Will smiled at Nico brightly. “You came.”

“Not fast enough though,” Nico sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Will just continued to smile, “It’s okay.” He went to get up, a pained gasp escaping his lips. “Help me to the bathroom?”

Nico just nodded as he helped Will get up and escorted him to the bathroom where he sat the boy down on the closed toilet. 

“What can I do?” Nico asked completely helpless as to what to do. Despite the many times of him being injured himself, he had never actually treated any.

Will gave him a pained smile, “Can you get the first aid kit under the sink?” 

Nico just nodded as he quickly opened the cabinet and pulling the first aid kit out. When he turned to Will, he was horrified to see the boy had pulled out a piece of what looked to be a rather large piece of glass from his hand. His bottom lip starting to bleed as he bit into it in attempt to keep in the scream of pain.

“Will!” Nico shrieked as he took the boy’s injured hand into his own. “What are you doing?”

“I-it had to c-come out.” Will stuttered between deep breaths as he grabbed the hand towel from the towel rack to wrap it around his hand applying pressure. He closed his eyes as he seemed to focus on breathing.

“What can I do?” Nico asked desperately. His eyes searching Will’s face as if it held the answers as he kneeled in front of the boy. Seeing Will in pain made his heart feel as if someone was trying to rip it out of his chest. If he had finished his list quicker, maybe this would have never happened because he would have been there for Will. 

Blue eyes opened up to stare into black, “Can you find the stitch kit?” He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. “I think the wound is too deep to heal on its own.”

Nico gawked, “Will! You should go to the hospital! I can take you!”

Will shook his head, tears started to run down his cheeks. “I-I can’t. I don’t want to worry Mama.” He smiled through the pain and tears. “Besides, it is good practice for when I become a doctor.” A scream from the living room made both of them jump. Oh yeah, Nico in his worry for Will had forgotten about the awful man he had trapped. 

“What are you doing to him?” Will asked, eyes wide. 

Nico glared in the general direction of the man, “What he deserves.” He turned his attention back to Will and went through the first aid kit to find the stitch kit. “He’ll live though. I promised not to kill him, but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t suffer for treating you like this. I warned him and he didn’t listen. Maybe now he’ll think twice about hurting you.” He knew he shouldn’t have told Will any of this because it would just scare him, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was so angry that anyone would dare hurt this gentle and kind child. 

“Thank you,” Will whispered as he rested his forehead against Nico’s. “Just don’t hurt him too badly so I can still patch him up afterwards. Mama would be upset if he had to go to the hospital.” Nico just stared up into beautiful blue eyes as he wondered how Will could be so kind and forgiving. This boy never ceased to amaze him in just a short time. 

Will groaned as he eventually took the stitch kit from Nico and unwrapped his still bleeding hand. With another deep breath, he bit his lip as he slowly sewed himself back up. Afterwards, his hand was stitched up and bandaged his eyes drooped tiredly as he started to sway a bit. 

“Will,” Nico said as he held the boy up by his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, just tired.” Will replied with a small smile.

“We should get you to bed,” Nico suggested, already gently picking the boy up bridal style. It was a little awkward because Nico was a little bit shorter than Will was, but his monster strength made up for his lack in height. Will groaned in his arms and clung to his shirt.

“What about Kyle?” Will whispered as he tried to fight off sleep.

“Who?”

“Kyle...” Will yawned then looked up at Nico. “My step-dad” Yawn. “Is he okay?” Nico was taken aback at how Will could even think about worrying about the awful man after everything.

“He’ll be fine.” Nico sighed. “He is just sitting in complete darkness right now.” He sighed again as he had the first aid kit disappear into the shadows. “But I will have one of my zombies, skeletons or ghosts patch him up for you.”

Will hummed as he closed his eyes and snuggled closer. “And you’ll stay?”

“Of course I’ll stay, Sunshine.” Nico replied with a small smile as he carried the boy up the stairs to his room. Will was already fast asleep by the time they got to his room making it impossible for Nico to detangle himself from Will’s grasp. So Nico just climbed into bed with Will and wrapped his arms around the other protectively. This seemed to cause Will to only bury himself deeper into Nico’s chest with a content sigh. Nico placed a gentle kiss on top of Will’s golden curls with a small smile. He made sure that the man, Kyle, was taken care of per Will’s request then had all his shadows and minions disappear. He hoped Kyle wasn’t stupid enough to try to harm Will again. Besides, if he did Nico was still here to protect Will. A single skeleton remained as a guard outside, just in case. The use of all his powers after a long day frightening children had drained him, so he let the warmth of Will in his arms lull him to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, finally updating again. I am planning on this to be about seven to ten chapters depending. So it isn't going to be very long.
> 
> Enjoy the update!

Nico woke up the next morning to have Will still in his arms, but something was wrong. Will’s breath was ragged, his body while normally warm, warmer than usual. Nico propped himself up with one arm to stare down at the boy next to him, eyes squeezed tightly together in what looked like pain, beads of sweat dripped down his bow. He frowned as Will coughed wetly. While he didn’t know much about human illness, it was obvious that Will was sick. The only problem was, he didn’t know what to do about it. He could take Will to the hospital, but Will had stated he didn’t want to go yesterday because he didn’t want to worry his mother. Will’s mother... He thought about it. He no longer had Will’s file, not like it mattered, he had it memorized. Will’s mother was a country singer known as Naomi Solace and was currently on tour. His eyes closed as he focused on having the ghosts around the world search for her. It wasn’t long until her location in Los Angeles was discovered. Maybe it was time for her to come home to take care of her son since clearly her current husband wasn’t doing the job. He placed a quick kiss to Will’s forehead before disappearing into the shadows to where he knew Naomi Solace was.

“Naomi Solace,” Nico said softly as he emerged from the shadows in her hotel.

“Oh sweet Jesus!” Naomi shrieked as she clutched her hand to her chest. “Sweet child, how in the world did you ever get in here? Are you lost?” She instantly jumped out of bed to approach him.

Nico took her hand, “Your son needs you.” He didn’t explain anything further, not wanting to leave Will alone more than necessary, as he pulled them into the shadows and to Will’s room. He watched as it took Naomi a minute to get over the initial shock of shadow travel, and a few more moments to take in her surroundings. However, once she saw Will sick in bed she darted over to him and took him into her arms.

“Oh baby,” Naomi said as she touched Will’s forehead. “Why isn’t Kyle taking care of you?”

“Mama?” Will croaked out, his eyes barely opening before he went into a coughing fit.

“Shhh sweet pea,” Naomi cooed, brushing some hair out of Will’s face. “Mommy is here.”

Nico stayed half hidden in the shadows as he watched the mother and son. It made faded memories come back of his childhood centuries ago. He didn’t remember much, but his mother had been the same as Naomi when he was hurt or upset. The shadows wrapped around him to conceal him a bit more as Naomi got up to leave the room for a brief moment, only to return with what looked like medicine and a damp towel. She helped Will sit up to give him the medicine and then placed the damp towel on his forehead. She smiled loving down at her son as he played with his golden curls, his head in her lap and hummed a soft song. After the song finished, striking blue eyes looked directly at where Nico was even though he was positive that she shouldn’t be able to see him.

“You can come out,” Naomi said with a gentle smile. “I know you have been watching this entire time. No need to be afraid.” Nico just stayed where he was, unsure of how to proceed. He had brought Will’s mother to help, he should leave. Still, he had seen the way Will’s step father treated him so he was a bit hesitant to leave Will alone, even if it was the boy’s mother.

Naomi chuckled softly, “No worries. You can stay there if you wish. I just would like to thank you for bringing me home so I can take care of my beautiful baby boy. I worry about him so much, but he just tells me to live my dream that he is fine.” She sighed, “I should have known better than to listen to him.” Her eyes looked back at Nico, “I’m glad he has a good friend like you to watch over him. Clearly Kyle hasn’t been.”

Nico growled lowly at the mention of that awful man, “He is a terrible person. He hurt Will.”

“Kyle wouldn’t never do such a thing.” Naomi said confidently. 

“He does,” Nico growled, this time coming out of the shadows. “And if you won’t protect Will, I will.” The temperature dropped in the room, light slowly disappearing into shadows as Nico’s anger got the better of him. Still, Naomi didn’t seem terrified by the dark display of his powers.

Naomi smiled softly, “You really care for Will, don’t you?” There was a mysterious twinkle in her eye that Nico couldn’t quite place, like she knew something he didn’t.

“I’m Will’s monster,” Nico answered with a glare in Naomi’s direction. 

“Monster?” Naomi asked, still with a smile. “Monsters are evil, you my child are not evil. I can see the kindness in your eyes.”

“I am a monster,” Nico clarified. “But monsters are not evil. We only scare children to feed, never harm them. Humans have vilified us since the beginning.” He crossed his arms and looked away from Naomi wondering why he was even telling her any of this. He should leave. He shouldn’t be interacting with humans, yet alone adult humans. They were the most dangerous.

“Is that so?” Naomi asked curiously. “I guess humans aren’t the greatest when it comes to things they don’t understand. But don’t worry, I will not judge you for being a monster. Do you have a name?”

“I do,” Nico frowned, still not meeting Naomi’s gaze. “But I don’t know if I can trust you yet with it.”

“That makes sense,” Naomi said. “I am sure you haven’t had the best interactions with humans, but you are welcome here.”

“You don’t even know me,” Nico said, confused at how kind and trusting this human woman was. It was clear where Will got his kindness from.

Naomi laughed, “I don’t, but you must have taken a pretty big risk to go get me and bring me here to take care of Will. You had no idea if I would try to hurt you.”

“No human has hurt me in a long time,” Nico said with a bit a pride. He knew that he was at the top of the monster hunters’ list. It had become almost a game of cat and mouse over time. Sometimes when he was bored he would mess with them just because he could. Jason would always scold him later about it, endlessly nagging at how dangerous it was.

“Do monsters eat or drink anything?” Naomi asked as she moved to tuck Will into his bed. “It is best we let Will rest.”

“We can eat or drink human food,” Nico answered. “But it doesn’t provide us nourishment. It is more to blend in or for fun.” He scolded himself for being so open with this adult human. He really shouldn’t be telling her any of this. His eyes narrowed as he warily looked back at Naomi standing by Will’s bed with a bright smile similar to her son’s. 

“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” Naomi said. “I am going to make a few calls to my manager and team.” She smiled, “You are welcome to stay if you wish. I’m sure Will would love it if you were here when he wakes up. Although, he’ll be out for a couple of hours because of the medicine.”

Nico didn’t say anything as he watched Naomi leave the room. She seemed like she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, but still, she wasn’t to be trusted just yet. As much as he didn’t want to leave Will alone with her, he knew he shouldn’t stay any longer. Those calls she was going to go make might be to the monster hunters. He summoned a small mouse skeleton to hide in the room and keep him up to date about everything. Then he sank back into the shadows to report back in before anyone became too suspicious of his disappearance. 

When he stepped into his house he shared with his half-sister Hazel, he already knew he was in trouble. So much for not disappearing suspiciously. Hopefully Hazel had kept it to herself for the time being and not tattled on him to their friends. She raised a curious eyebrow, golden eyes staring at him, her lips turned into a half smile.

“Where were you brother?” Hazel asked as he passed her on the couch to go to the kitchen to make some coffee. He wasn’t human, it didn’t have the same effect, but he enjoyed it. Especially when being questioned by his sister about not returning home. His appearance changed slightly to resemble a his teenage form. It was his preferred form around other monsters. His child form was exclusively for Will.

“I was out,” Nico simply said. “I don’t have to tell you everything in my personal life.”

Hazel turned around on the couch so she could look into the kitchen, a smirk on her face. “Did you meet someone?”

“The monster world is tiny, Haze.” Nico scoffed. “You really think I am interested in any of them after this long?”

“I never said it was a monster.”

“Monsters and humans don’t mix.”

“I’m half witch and half monster.” Hazel pointed out with a grin. “It can happen.”

“And look where that got our father, dead.” Nico said with the roll of his eyes.

Hazel rolled her eyes back, “I can smell human on you.”

“And?” Nico shrugged. “I need to be around humans to feed.”

“You never smell this much like a human,” Hazel grinned confidently as if she had already won the argument.

“Again,” Nico sighed. “I don’t understand what you are getting at.”

Hazel chuckled as she pulled out a familiar file. Will Solace’s file. “Tried to destroy it in the shadows, but I found it. You seem to be quite fond of this human boy. He is adorable I’ll give you that.”

“He wasn’t scared,” Nico frowned to hide his surprise. “Sorry for being too embarrassed to admit that a human child isn’t scared of me.”

Hazel laughed, “Oh please. One child not scared of you is not embarrassing. Even monsters are scared of you.” She grinned, hopping off the couch and into the kitchen to stand by Nico. “You know, it is okay if you find this boy interesting. It has been so long since a human child hasn’t been scared of you. I am kind of interested as well.”

“Leave Will alone, Hazel.” Nico snapped as he angrily poured his coffee.

“Okay,” Hazel grinned, but there was a mischievous look in her eye that Nico didn’t quite like. “Whatever you say brother. Just know I support you no matter what.”

Nico just rolled his eyes and left the kitchen with his coffee to lock himself in his room. He was going to have to be careful now if he planned to go visit Will. His sister was way to invested in his love life, or lack of one. With a sigh, he checked in with the skeleton mouse. Nothing had happened, just Naomi making calls and Will sleeping. His eyes darted outside to watch his various neighbors pass by. Some of them human, some of them monsters in disguise. It was the easiest to live in plain sight. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to just be human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the story so far. let me know what you think :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. woot woot. Let's get going on finishing another story XD

Will let out a sad sigh as he traced the well worn picture of Nico that Lou Ellen had given him. It had been seven years since he had seen Nico. Seven years since Nico brought his mother back into his life so that he wouldn’t have to be alone with his step father. Kyle hadn’t come back for an entire week and when he did he pointed at Will accusing him of being possessed by a demon, a team of priests behind him. His mother had told him to get out of her house and divorced him soon after. Since then it has been Will and his mother. He wasn’t complaining, he loved being with his mother, but he missed Nico. For a while after Nico’s disappearance he wondered if he imagined all of it. That Nico was just a figment of his imagination like monsters were supposed to be for children. Even when his mother said that Nico had brought her back home with some interesting monster powers, he still wondered. 

So he had ended up asking Lou Ellen, since she knew about Nico and even warned him about the monster. It was then that she made him and Cecil make a blood pact to never reveal to anyone that she was a witch. Witches and monsters didn’t get along because witches were human’s with powers and monsters were creations of nightmares. She explained that most witches became monster hunters since there was little humans could do to actually harm monsters. Will had told Lou Ellen that it was cruel to hunt monsters. Monsters didn’t harm anyone, just fed off the fear they created. She was sceptical at first, but the more he explained of how Nico saved him she eventually came around. It was then that she ripped out the picture of Nico out of one of the books that had been passed down in her family. Since then he treasured that picture. The picture and the little skeletal mouse he found when he was ten that he named Shelly. The skeletal mouse that now came everywhere with him, almost like his guardian skeleton. It made him feel safe in knowing that Nico was still out there somewhere still looking out for him. He just wished Nico would appear to him again so they could talk and snuggle. He missed snuggling with Nico.

“Will!” Cecil shouted as he snapped his fingers in front of Will’s face. “Again with the daydreaming of Nico?” He groaned, “Seriously man, dude ain’t going to come back. It has been seven years!”

Will let out another sad sigh, “I know.” He looked back at the picture longingly, “But I can dream, can’t I?” He gently placed the picture back in its protector to keep it from being damaged further. He had carried it with him for seven years and looked at in constantly, so it was pretty worn. The three of them were supposed to be studying for their upcoming history exam. Not much studying was getting done though.

Lou Ellen chuckled, “I could always try to summon him for you.”

Will frowned, “Nope. Not going to happen. One,” He held up one finger, “because you said summoning monsters, especially high level ones like Nico, is dangerous. Two,” he held up a second finger. “Nico has clearly forgotten about me and has moved on with his life. And Three,” he held up a third finger. “If it did work, you don’t think Nico would freak out that he was just summoned by a witch?”

“Kill joy,” Lou Ellen huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest. “You’re just scared of facing Nico again because you have a crush on him.”

“Do not,” Will protested weakly with a blush. Over the years he realized his developing feelings for the monster. Not like anything could ever happen with those feelings. Will was just human and Nico was a monster. A monster that was thousands of years old and very powerful. He wouldn’t want anything to do with a pathetic human like Will. 

“Do to,” Cecil laughed loudly as he lightly punched Will’s shoulder.

Will was about to protest once again when the light in the room suddenly dimmed. His eyes darted around the room to see shadows expanding, sucking the light out of the room. The most condensed and darkest spot pooled on top of Will’s bed. Then, just as quickly as they came, they disappeared leaving behind a bloody figure on his bed. Before anyone could blink, Will was instantly at the figure’s side already knowing it was Nico before even seeing his face. 

“Nico!” Will shouted as he quickly accessed the condition the teenage Nico was in. He was horrified at the injuries that littered Nico’s body. Gash marks. Bullet wounds. Stab wounds. Almost any kind of wound one could inflict on someone seemed to be present.

“Cecil, grab the med kit!” he ordered as he grabbed the scissors off his desk to start cutting the jacket and shirt off to have better access to the wounds. Once Cecil handed him the kit, he opened it up and got to work. He didn’t know anything about how monster anatomy worked, but hoped and prayed it was similar enough to human.

“Will, honey what is....” Naomi started to ask, but stopped when she saw what was happening. “Oh my, we should get him to the hospital.”

“You can’t,” Lou Ellen said. “Nico is a monster. I already sealed off this room so that the monster hunters that did this won’t be able to track him or find him.”

“Ma, can you run to the store and get all the medical supplies you can?” Will begged without looking up as he continued to clean and stitch up Nico’s wounds as best as he could.

“Of course, sweetie.” Naomi answered as she ran down the stairs. 

“He’s going to need to feed.” Lou Ellen stated. “I’m going to go home and get some bottled fear.” She left without much more of an explanation, but Will didn’t care. His only focus was making sure Nico didn’t die. He had too many questions to ask Nico. Seven years of waiting to see Nico again, and he wasn’t about to let the last time he saw Nico be this.

After hours of patching Nico up, Will was certain that Nico wouldn’t die. His main worry had been Nico’s extremities becoming transparent, but whatever was in the bottle that Lou Ellen brought seemed to do the trick. Now all they had to do was wait for Nico to wake up and tell them what happened. He hoped that Nico wouldn’t panic and reinjure himself again. That hopefully he would remember who Will was and let him explain the situation before he left Will’s life again. His eyes looked over to Lou Ellen and Cecil sleeping on the air mattress they had set up so they could spend the night, neither of them wanting to leave after everything that had just happened.

“Do you think he’ll remember me, Shelly?” Will asked the skeleton mouse in his hand as he watched Nico sleep. Shelly just chattered some of its bones before it climbed up to Will’s head and nestled itself in his curls. 

Will sighed, “Yeah, I don’t think he’ll remember me either.” He took Nico’s hand in his own, then rested his head on the mattress as his eyes fell shut. “Please still be here when I wake up, Nico.” he whispered before exhaustion too over and made him fall asleep.

***

Nico groaned, the light of the sun filtering through his eyelids telling him to wake up so he did. His body was stiff all over which wasn’t surprising with the night he had. Stupid monster hunters raiding a peaceful monster village. The attack had clearly been planned. Of course their calculations didn’t seem to include the Ghost King being present. He had just stopped there to rest a bit before going back to making sure children remained afraid of monsters so they could survive. The thought of that entire village being wiped out left an unsettling feeling in his stomach. Something that would have happened if he didn’t decide to take a break. He tried to sit up, but a cry of pain left him instead as he collapsed back into something soft. His hand went to his stomach, the main source of pain, eyes tightly shut, teeth clenched.

“Nico!” a voice cried next to him. A warm hand settled in the middle of his chest, “Stay still. You’re hurt pretty badly.”

Nico panted through the pain, eyes opening slightly to stare up at the person speaking. “Will?” he asked as the blurry face above him revealed a much older looking and concerned Will.

Will’s face morphed into one of pure happiness, eyes sparkling. “You remember me?”

Nico frowned at that question. Of course he remembered Will. He constantly checked up on Will from the shadows. He had a skeleton mouse following him around to make sure he was safe. It was such a stupid question. Will, the most beautiful and brightest human he had ever met. That he had to stay away from in fear of becoming to vulnerable. 

“Why am I here?” Nico asked completely ignoring Will’s question. He had meant to shadow travel back to his house that he shared with Hazel. He had thought when he woke up that Hazel would be the one to be taking care of him, not William Solace, the human.

“You just appeared on my bed injured.” Will explained. “I patched you up the best I could. I don’t know much about monsters. Lou Ellen was able to feed you bottled fear or something which seemed to help.”

“I should leave, It isn’t safe.” Nico said as he tried to get up again only this time Will’s hand stubbornly held him down. He had to leave before the monster hunters tracked him down. If they found out Will and whoever else helped him, they would suffer the same fate he would, death. He couldn’t allow that.

“You’re not going anywhere mister,” Will ordered. “Lou Ellen put up spells to keep your location hidden so you are safe. Just rest okay?”

“Spells?” Nico asked, his eyes darting around the room in fear as he noticed all the witch symbols. They had already found him. Maybe Will was working with them and they only kept him alive to get answers out of him. But it didn’t make any sense. He would have known if Will was a monster hunter or a witch.

“Hey, hey.” Will said softly, drawing Nico’s attention back to those beautiful blue eyes. “Lou Ellen is only here to help. She is a friend.”

Nico pursed his lips, “Witches aren’t friends.” He knew that wasn’t true. His sister was part witch, part monster. Granted, she was the only witch he trusted considering she was his sister and part monster. While the witching community didn’t accept her, he did. Not all the monsters liked it, but at least let it slide due to her relationship to him.

“Lou Ellen is a friend, Nico.” Will said with confidence. “Please trust me. I would never do anything to hurt you.” He smiled, his hand in Nico’s. “You saved my life. Let me return the favor.”

“Fiiine,” Nico muttered as he looked away from Will, to keep him from seeing the heat rising on his cheeks. Even older, Will was still so beautiful and kind. This human had to have some kind of magic about him to explain why Nico was so drawn to him.

“Is there anything you need?” Will asked. “You’ve been out for almost a week.”

“I’m fine.” Nico answered, still not meeting Will’s gaze. He was far from fine, but Will didn’t need to know that. Honestly, it was amazing that he was even still alive with a human’s help.

“Okay,” Will said softly. “You should rest. Shelly will come and get me if you need anything.”

“Shelly?” Nico asked raising a curious eyebrow.

Will smiled brightly as he held up the skeleton mouse to show Nico, “Shelly! The skeleton mouse you left.” His face darkened, “Or at least I assumed you left.”

Nico narrowed his eyes, “I left it. Why are you holding it like some sort of pet?”

“Shelly comes everywhere with me,” Will beamed. “Shelly is my guardian mouse.”

Nico rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation. The skeleton mouse was not supposed to be Will’s pet. It was simply supposed to keep an eye on Will and report to him if anything happened. What kind of manipulation had Will done to get his own skeleton to disobey orders? There was no way that Will was just human.

“Annnyways,” Will smiled. “You can watch TV if you want.” He handed Nico a remote. “I’ll leave you alone so you can rest some more. You look like you are about to pass out again.” Nico was about to argue with Will that he wasn’t tired, but a sudden drowsiness came over him which caused him to yawn.

Will gave him a small smile, “Yeah, that is what I thought.” He looked down at the ground as he nervously rubbed his arm. “Umm... Would you mind not disappearing when you wake up? I... I... I would like to be able to talk to you.” His face darkened even more making his freckles almost disappear. “I missed you, Nico.”

Nico missed Will too, but this weird friendship they had was dangerous for both of them. Still, one look into Will’s eyes and he knew he couldn’t say no. Was there ever a time that he could say no to Will? If Nico hadn’t separated himself from Will when he did, he was sure that anything Will asked for Nico would have granted it.

“Sure,” Nico sighed. “But any sign of trouble I’m leaving.”

Will smiled brightly, “Deal. Sweet dreams Nico.” He said as he left the room.

Sweet Dreams? Monsters didn’t have dreams or nightmares. Still, as his traitorous eyes started to close, his body slowly shutting itself down to rest, he couldn’t help but wonder how a dream of Will would be sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Had some errands to run this morning. But here it is. XD

Will greeted Nico with a smile as his dark eyes fluttered open. He was so happy when Nico said he remembered him. He was so happy that Nico was back, even though the circumstances could have been a little better. Whatever Lou Ellen was bringing to help Nico feed seemed to be helping. Still, Nico had taken quite the beating so his recovery was slow. He was constantly in and out of consciousness, but at least he wasn’t just unconscious like the first week. 

“How you feeling today?” Will asked secretly hoping the Nico was feeling well enough to talk.

Nico squinted up at Will, hand moving to cover his eyes from the sun. “Better.” He started to sit up which Will helped him with as to not put too much strain on his injuries. “Thank you.”

Will smiled softly, “Anything for my monster.”

“I haven’t been your monster in years Will,” Nico corrected as he rolled his right shoulder to test it, his eye twitching slightly. 

“I can give you a massage if you want,” Will offered. “You must be quite stiff with how long you have been asleep." He had been studying about massages for a while now. While they weren’t entirely necessary to study with him wanting to be a surgeon, he did want to learn as much as he could to help people. 

Nico eyed him warily, “I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse.”

“I’m sure you have,” Will answered as he remembered the littering of old scars all over Nico’s body. “Life as a monster must be difficult, but I only want to help. I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Again, Nico eyed him then looked away to let out a sigh. “Fine. You are such a strange child. Always have been.”

Will laughed, “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He helped Nico lie back down and roll onto his stomach. Nico remained quiet as Will started to work out all the tension and knots from Nico’s muscles. It wasn’t surprising how tense Nico was, but eventually he felt Nico relax under his touches. Sometimes Nico would sigh softly as if all the weight he had been carrying around by being a monster seemed to leave his body. Will spared a glance as Nico’s face, a smile finding its way to his own at how relaxed Nico looked. His eyes closed and relaxed, his ebony hair fanned around his face.

“How am I doing?” Will asked as he moved down from Nico’s shoulders and back to his legs.

“It feels good,” Nico whispered, a small dusting of pink staining his cheeks.

Will smiled, “It’s my first...”

A sudden crash from downstairs made Will stop what he was doing. While Will was frozen, Nico was already up and on his feet protectively in front of Will, shadows already bending around the room. Various crashes and what sounded like animal sounds came from downstairs. Will was glad his mother was currently shopping otherwise he wouldn’t know what to do. 

“Stay behind me,” Nico whispered, eyes narrowed at the door.

“Nico, you can’t fight them in your condition,” Will hissed already noticing the way Nico’s body was trembling slightly. “You need to run. Get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Nico said stubbornly. “But I can’t shadow travel with you currently. It would put you in more danger.”

“Nico, please...” Will started but didn’t get to finish as the sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs made both of them freeze. A large black wolf appeared in the doorway, eyes glowing red, drool dripping from its bared teeth. Will knew he should be scared of this creature, but something told him that this was a monster. If this wolf was a monster then it must be friends with Nico, right?

“Frank?” Nico said, his body losing some of the tension, the shadows disappearing. “Why are you...” He didn’t get to finish the sentence as a blur of large cinnamon brown curls ran into the room and hugged Nico.

“We finally found you!” a female voice cried. “I have been so worried.”

Will looked at the girl hugging Nico, then back at the black wolf who growled at him and slowly approached. He knew that if an oversized black wolf with red eyes was approaching him that he should be afraid, but he wasn’t. Clearly these were Nico’s monster friends. 

“Hazel get off of me!” Nico shouted as he pushed the girl away slightly. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“We’re here to rescue you!” the girl, Hazel, shouted back, golden eyes narrowing at Will . “This human has clearly hurt you and kept you captive. You’re going to pay for hurting my brother monster hunter!” She went to go storm over to Will, eyes glowing.

Nico stopped her, “Hazel stop! Will saved me!”

“Will?” Hazel said, eyes returning normal as a mischievous smile formed on her lips. “As in William Solace?” Her attention turned back to Nico in amusement. “How did you end up here, oh brother dearest?” 

Will was kind of curious as to why Hazel, who was apparently Nico’s sister, knew who he was. He had never been visited by another monster since Nico. Did he get Nico in trouble somehow and that was why Nico hadn’t visited him in seven years?

Nico glared at her, arms crossed stubbornly, but Will could see the blush across his cheeks. “I must have shadow traveled here when I was injured after the raid on the monster village in Canada.”

“Oh?” Hazel smirked. “You came here instead of our home? Texas is much farther than New York.”

“What are you trying to say?” Nico asked with a glare. “You know what, don’t answer that. We should leave.” He pushed past his sister and towards the door.

“Wait!” Will shouted as he went to grab Nico, but stopped when the wolf blocked his way and growled.

“Frank leave him alone,” Nico sighed. “Or did you not hear that he saved me?”

The wolf transformed into a tall, large and well muscled Asian man. Will honestly couldn’t tell if this monster’s human or wolf form was more terrifying. Especially when his eyes remained red and glaring down at him. He eventually torn his eyes away from the wolf monster to look back at Nico.

“Are you leaving?” Will asked softly even though he knew the answer. Why would Nico stay here when he could go home to his kind that could probably help him better?

“Yes,” Nico answered bluntly. “The longer I stay here, the more danger we are both in.”

Will looked down at the ground sadly. It felt like he had just gotten Nico back into his life and now he was leaving once again. Who knew how long it would be before they could meet again? If they ever would meet again.

“Will you come back to visit?” he asked before he could stop himself. He sounded pathetic, but he couldn‘t stop himself. “You know you are always welcomed here. Even your friends.”

“No,” Nico said leaving no room for argument. 

“Nico!” Hazel yelled. “Why are you being so rude? You said he saved your life!”

“Let’s go,” Nico demanded. “It’s not safe."

Will didn’t need to look to know that Nico was already walking away, he could hear the footsteps. Still, he didn’t look up because he didn’t want any of the monsters to see his tears that he could already feel running down his cheeks. He had been so happy that Nico remembered him, but that was all it was. He was just the strange kid that wasn’t afraid of monsters. 

“You can at least say thank Will or something!” Hazel shouted, her footsteps echoing through the house as she most likely followed Nico down that stairs. 

“Thanks for taking care of him,” A deep voice said before more footsteps left Will’s room leaving him alone. When he couldn’t hear the muffled arguing of the two siblings anymore, he went to his now empty bed and collapsed on it sobbing. He knew having a crush on a monster didn’t make any sense. Yet he couldn’t stop the feelings he felt towards Nico. Maybe now with his hope crushed of even them just being friends he could move on. That night, he cried himself to sleep.

***

Will looked out the window, not focusing on anything that was happening in class. His thoughts too occupied by Nico. He knew that his two best friends and mother were worried about him, but all he told them was the Nico left with his sister. He didn’t want to tell them that Nico said he wouldn’t visit and how crushed that made him. He still had Shelly though, so at least that meant that maybe Nico was still watching over him. 

The bell rang, everyone hurriedly left the class, Will following slowly behind. Lou Ellen was leaving after school for a week on some family trip that she said was going to be a disaster. Cecil had detention yet again for a prank he pulled on the principle in the middle of morning announcements. So Will was left to walk home from school alone. He could take the bus, but today was probably a good day for a long walk so he could get his thoughts in order. He didn’t need to go to his locker so he just shuffled out the door and to the left towards his house. 

He put some earphones in his ears so it looked like he was listening to music when he wasn’t. It was a small town, everyone knew everyone. And with him missing a week of school because he was ‘sick’, someone was bound to try to talk to him. So he marched through the main part of the town, not paying any mind to the people around him. A sigh of relief left him as he took out his earphones now that he was in the long stretch of nothingness to his house. Shelly came out of his pocket, scurried up his arm and rubbed itself on Will’s neck in an attempt to comfort him.

“It’s okay, Shelly.” Will sighed. “I should have known better than to fall for Nico. I mean, I tried to get over him. I dated Lacy for a bit and that was nice.” His eyes glanced at his shoulder when Shelly did a little circle. 

“Okay fine, you’re right.” He chuckled. “She was more like a good friend than a girlfriend. She wasn’t even angry when we broke it off because she could see that I liked someone else. I guess I am the strange kid in the human world and the monster world.”

“Still,” he sighed yet again. “I wish Nico would at least be my friend again...if we were even friends that is. Maybe just ask him some questions. But that is stupid. He put himself at risk to help me back then. Lou Ellen said that monsters are becoming more and more rare, some of them even extinct. I should just let it go. For Nico’s sake.”

Will stopped talking to himself at the sound of a car coming. It wasn’t often cars used this road, but they still used it because there were other homes out this way. He probably should have left his earphones in so he didn’t look crazy talking to himself. Shelly scurried into his shirt and out of sight as the roar of the engine got louder and closer. He ducked his head in hopes that whoever it was wouldn’t recognize him and stop to ask if he wanted a ride. Then again, there was no hiding who he was in a small town and they were probably going to ask him anyways. He looked up when he heard the sound of the car rolling to a stop not surprised that they did stop, but surprised at who was in the truck. Cold brown eyes glared at him.

“Still got that demon in you boy?” Kyle asked coldly. “I have some friends that can fix that.”

Will didn’t even bother answering as he continued to push forward. He hadn’t seen Kyle since the night his mother kicked him out of their house. Rumor had it that he moved to a different town saying he didn’t want to be in one cursed with demons. No one had seen or talked about him since. So why was he here now?

“Don’t ignore me boy!” Kyle shouted as he revved up the truck’s engine. “I came here to save you, you ungrateful little shit!”

Will started running even though he knew it would be pointless. This was one long stretch of a farmland road with no one around. Kyle had his truck and would surely catch up, but at least he could duck into the corn field ahead if he made it there. He saw Kyle’s truck fly past him on the road then screech to a halt in his path.

“No point in running,” Kyle smirked as he started getting out of the truck. “Just let us rid the world of the demon inside of you.” 

Will didn’t wait for Kyle to close the door before he took off running. The fields of wheat didn’t offer any kind of cover, but if he could get far enough he could hopefully circle back to the corn field. He just kept running and running, not even looking back. Eventually he made his way to the corn fields and hid inside them to take a break. He was sure he couldn’t hear the sound of footsteps following him. Then again, his pounding heart seemed to be all he could hear.

“Do you think we lost him Shelly?” Will whispered as Shelly stuck its head out of his pocket. 

“Ow!” he shouted when Shelly bit his hand. He had no idea why it would do such a think, but didn’t have a chance to think of a reason before pain erupted through his head and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is looking to be more of ten chapters. Hopefully not more, but I am a terrible judge at amount of chapters I need to complete a story. 
> 
> Anyways. Let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. XD Someone guessed what was going to happen! lol
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Sidenote: I will also be working on AUctober. So if this doesn't update daily. I am sorry! I am going to try to get this finished though!

“Nico!” Hazel shouted at him as they arrived back at their home. “That was really rude!”

“It wasn’t safe Hazel!” Nico argued as he tried to storm to his room upstairs, but his body was too weak to do anything fast so he slowly worked his way up the stairs holding his left side.

“You were there for a week and a half.” Hazel said following him. “It took me that long to find you.”

“And you did, meaning the monster hunters weren’t that far behind!” Nico seethed wishing his sister would just drop the topic. “You know the price that humans pay if they help monsters!”

“You could have at least explained that to him!”

“He did look pretty upset when you left,” Frank chimed in. “I think he was crying.”

“Whatever,” Nico frowned to hide the pain of knowing he made Will cry. “It is better this way. Monsters and humans don’t mix.” It was too dangerous to be around Will, especially now. The monster hunters were becoming relentless in their hunt to destroy the monster population. The village in Canada was one of the last monster villages on the planet. Now it was safer for monsters to hide in plain sight among humans, but that was dangerous as well. There was safety in numbers and the monster hunters knew that. It was why over the past seven years they had been locating and destroying monster villages around the globe. Once those safe havens were gone, monsters would have to live apart to stay alive which also made them more vulnerable due to being alone. When he finally made it to his room he sat on the bed and leaned against the wall, his body covered in sweat from the short journey. 

Hazel sighed as she sat down next to him. “They really did a number on you.” Her fingers lightly traced over some of the bandages on his arm. “I’m just glad you are okay. I was so worried when I heard the news.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to kill me,” Nico sighed. “Did everyone make it out of the village safely?” He had been so distracted keeping all the monster hunters’ attention on him he didn’t have time to check everyone was safe before he plunged into the shadows.

“They did,” Hazel answered with a smile. “You’re a hero.”

“I’m really not.”

“All those monsters would have died if you hadn’t been there,” Frank said as he entered the room with a bottle of fear. At least Nico knew this one would work better than whatever the witch had been giving him. He took it from Frank and opened it, letting the fear created by monsters seep into him, it felt good. 

“I just happened to be there by chance,” Nico said as he put the empty bottle to the side. Good thing he kept some back ups in case things like this happened. 

“You’re still a hero,” Hazel smiled. “Even to a certain human named Will.”

Nico glared at his sister, “I’m not a hero to anyone. I am doing my job.”

“Your job doesn’t consist of helping humans,” Hazel corrected with a grin. “And I know Will isn’t the first child that you helped.” She poked the middle of his chest, “You, oh brother dearest, have a soft spot.”

“I do not,” Nico frowned as he swatted his sister’s hand away. “I’m the terrifying Ghost King. Monsters and Humans are afraid of me.”

“Except Will,” Frank chimed in with a smile.

Nico whipped his head towards Frank, eyes narrowed. “Shut the fuck up, Frank. You can leave now.”

“Nico!” Hazel scolded. “Be nice! Frank helped me everyday to find you.”

“Yeah because he wants to get in your pants.” Nico muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the wall.

“You know what,” Hazel said with an annoyed sigh. “Why don’t you get some rest? Clearly you are very cranky if this is how you are acting.” She got up and grabbed Franks hand, “I hope your attitude changes a bit once you’re feeling better.” She pulled Frank out of his room and slammed the door shut.

Nico just continued to glare at the wall. He honestly didn’t know why he was being difficult. All he did know what that he was upset. Upset that his life was the way it was. That he was a monster and monsters never found happiness. Even if it was only for a bit, his time with Will almost made him forget what he was. Will’s mother and friends had been so kind to him despite what he was. When was the last time anyone other than his sister and friends had showed him any kindness. Even monsters were scared of him outside his small group of friends. It was his title of the Ghost King that kept Hazel safe from monsters even though she was half witch. 

He pushed back the curtains a bit to take a glimpse outside. All the humans were going about their business, just living normal human lives. After living as long as he did, he envied humans. Their lives were so simple and short. While not all humans had good lives, at least they could have dreams. Monsters didn’t dream or have dreams to become something. Monsters were born monsters no matter how they came into existence. When they were born they had one job, to be the living nightmares to children. There was no choice. They couldn’t dream to be a chef or a doctor or a professional baseball player. All they could be was a monster. Sure they had to blend in so they would take up pretend human professions, but at the end of the day their true job title was still monster. With a heavy sigh, he lowered himself onto his bed and shut his eyes. He might as well rest to get his strength back up. Who knew what the monster hunters were planning next? All he knew, was he had to be ready.

***

Nico groaned as sleep started to leave his body. He really didn’t want to wake up. Not when he felt so warm and comfortable. When was the last time he felt this warm and comfortable? Right, when he had fallen asleep with Will when he was a child. He wished that he could still hold Will like that. It was odd though that he was warm. Maybe he left the curtains open and the sun was hitting his bed just right. Normally he liked complete darkness so the sun never shined in his room when he was sleeping. He took a deep breath and smelled something that had a scent similar to crop fields. Did he leave his window open too? Slowly he opened his eyes to see Will’s sleeping face in front of him. He blinked. He blinked again. The image of Will still the same. His eyes glanced around his familiar room then back to sleeping Will. Why the fuck was Will in his bed?

Before full blown panic could set in, the little skeleton mouse scurried out of Will’s pocket. He listened to what had happened and forgot that he had given the little skeleton mouse the power to bring Will here if he was in major trouble. Running into his abusive now crazy former step-father would be considered major trouble. Especially when that man wasn’t alone in his chase for Will. Somehow he had teamed up with monster hunters despite the fact that he thought Nico was a demon possessing Will.

He held out his hand for the little skeleton mouse to climb on, “Go back and keep an eye on Naomi Solace. Bring her here if anything happens.” The little skeleton mouse nodded its little head before disappearing into the shadows. Now, he had to make sure that Will was alright. His skeleton mouse said that someone had hit Will in the back of the head before the shadows were able to bring him here.

Nico propped himself up with a hiss, his body still sore, so he could reach around and feel the back of Will’s head. Something wet and sticky coated his fingers. Blood. Rage boiled deep inside him that anyone dared to hurt Will. Once he knew Will was okay, he was going to find those humans and make them pay. First thing was first though, he had to stop the bleeding and maybe put some ice on the injury. He summoned a skeleton to go get the first aid kit and another to get an ice pack.

While he waited for them to return, he noticed that Will still had his backpack on so he carefully used the shadows to take it off and put it in the corner of the room. He checked the back of Will’s head again gently, the blood was already drying which was good. Just a cut maybe. The skeletons eventually returned with what he asked for so he went to work on cleaning the cut to Will’s head. It didn’t look like it need stitches, so that was good. He wrapped the ice pack in a towel before gently placing it on the bump. A small whimper came from Will which made Nico’s heart break.

“It’s okay, Sunshine.” Nico whispered as he gently brushed some of those golden curls out of Will’s face. “I have you. No one is going to hurt you anymore.” A curt cough sounded from the doorway making Nico tears his eyes away from Will to his sister’s curious and amused expression. He just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Will. 

“So what is Will doing in your bed?” Hazel asked, he could practically hear the smirk on her face. “You got some rest and decided to apologize for be so rude the other day?”

“He was attacked,” Nico explained. “It was his stupid step-father and monster hunters.” He sighed. “This is all my fault.”

“Well at least he is safe here,” Hazel offered. 

“He will never be safe if he stays with us Hazel.” Nico said as he clenched his jaw in frustration. “He probably won’t be safe for the rest of his life now because of us. Shit. What am I supposed to tell him?”

“That you love him and want to spend the rest of his mortal human life with him,” Hazel quickly deadpanned. 

Nico groaned with the roll of his eyes, “You are not helping.”

“Whaaat?” Hazel chuckled. “It’s true. Besides, now he can just stay here with us. He is already not afraid of monsters. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Nico let out an exasperated sigh, “He can’t just stay here with us. He his human, Hazel.”

“I’m half human.”

“But your human side is a witch and you are part monster.” Nico informed his sister as if she didn’t already know this. “Will is just a human. Monsters already distrust humans as it is, you really think they are going to be okay with one living with us?”

“You really think they are going to challenge the Ghost King?”

Nico sighed, “Hazel, just leave for now. We’ll discuss this when Will wakes up.”

“Leave the door open,” Hazel laughed as she left.

Nico just rolled his eyes for the third time at his sister’s shenanigans. He didn’t know what to do in this situation. Will was going to be in danger now wherever he was and it was all his fault. This was why he had stayed away for so long. The stories of monsters that became attracted to human never ended well. It always ended in death one way or another for both the human and the monster. Nico didn’t partially care about his own life. He had lived long enough to be okay with death. Will, however, was still young by human standards. He had hopes and dreams of being a doctor when he was older. Will didn’t deserve any of this darkness that Nico had brought into his life. Will deserved to live his life to his fullest and be happy with a family and his dream job. Not dragged into this war between monsters and humans. Especially on the losing side.

“Nico,” Will mumbled in his sleep, pressing himself closer to Nico’s body. Nico huffed at how adorable Will looked as he slowly took away the now melted ice pack. There was nothing Nico could currently do now with Will asleep. Plus he was still recovering himself. His skeleton mouse would protect Will’s mother for now. So he might as well just enjoy being able to cuddle with Will while he could. He wrapped his arms around Will and pulled him close before falling back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :) Thank you for all the support! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Ladyboy, I hope you are enjoying this story and it is still making your day. If not, get ready for all the oneshot AUs that I fear might not all be one shots eventually ;D


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter! Next one is the epilogue. XD Now off to go write the pirates AU for AUctober.
> 
> Enjoy

_Will screamed in pain as his step-father held his arm painfully behind his back, an array of purple and black coloring his arm from the grip already. Even worse was the pain each time the bite of the belt connected with bare skin, especially the cold bite of the belt buckle. What had he done to deserve this? Why was his step-father hurting him? Was this going to happen again? He couldn’t answer the questions. All he could do was scream and cry in pain until it was over._

_“Boys don’t cry,” Kyle sneered then walked away leaving Will a crumpled bloody mess on the floor. All he could do was lay there and cry, his body too weak and in pain to do anything else. He had hoped this would be the first and last time something like this would happen, but he had been wrong. More and more images and memories of being beaten day after day by his step-father filled his head. Each punch, each kick, each crack of the belt harder and more painful than the last. He had thought he had escaped this misery when Nico scared Kyle away and then brought his mother back to protect him. Now Kyle was back and going to hurt him again. He couldn’t call for Nico because Nico was still recovering. All he could do was brace for what was to come. To fall back into accepting his fate of being nothing more than a punching bag for his step-father._

_He looked up at his step-father’s cruel eyes through tears, knowing there was nowhere to run. The sound of the man’s belt coming undone rang and echoed in his ears. He closed his eyes and looked away as he waited for the pain to come. This was his life._

_“Will,” a voice said, but it wasn’t the cruel voice of his step-father. Still, he didn’t look as he readied himself for the pain._

_“Will,” the voice said again, this time louder and more clear._

_“Nico,” Will whispered as he cautiously opened his eyes to see Nico standing over him instead of his step-father._

_“Will,” Nico said softly as he reached out his hand. “It is only a nightmare.”_

_Will tried to calm his rapid breathing with deep breaths as he looked into the warmth of Nico’s eyes. It was only a nightmare. His step-father didn’t have him. Nico was here to protect him._

_“You are safe, Will.” Nico assured him with a soft smile. “I will always protect you. Let’s wake you up. Take my hand.”_

_Will looked from Nico’s face down to the offered, his breaths coming out ragged, but no longer rapid. Slowly, he reached out his hand to take Nico’s. The moment their hands connected the darkness disappeared._

Will snapped open his eyes in a panic, frantically looking around to make sure that his former step-father wasn’t around. To make sure that what he had just experienced was in fact a nightmare and not the truth that his step-father had found him.

“Shhh,” Nico whispered, his face coming into Will’s view, a gentle hand caressing his cheek while wiping away the tears. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

“Nico,” Will breathed in relief. He had been so sure when he was knocked unconscious that his former step-father had him. That the man was going to do horrible things to him again and maybe worse because he thought he was possessed by a demon. Nico was as far from a demon as he could possibly be. He was Will’s guardian monster angel. It warmed his heart to know that even though Nico didn’t want anything to do with him, he was still protecting him. He was so thankful to know that Nico rescued him.

Nico gave him a soft smile, “How are you feeling?”

“Relieved,” Will said as he let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I...I was so scared.”

“Shhh,” Nico whispered gently, his hand continuing to rub Will’s cheek in a comforting manner.  
“I know.” He pulled Will into a tight embrace, one hand rubbing soothing circles on his back, the other in his curls holding his head close to his chest. “But you’re safe. I promised I would never let that man hurt you again. He will pay.”

Will sobbed into Nico’s chest. So much relief washed over him that he was here with Nico and not somewhere with his form step-father. He was fifteen now, but he felt like an eight year old all over again. He hadn’t had one of those nightmares in years. And now that he thought about it, each time he had one, Nico was always there to make the nightmare go away. Not physically, but actually inside the nightmare like he was earlier. A constant protector to remind Will that he was safe. Always so gentle and kind.

Eventually his crying subsided, but he didn’t want to leave Nico’s arms. He had missed this, missed the comfort that Nico brought just by being there. He never wanted to leave Nico’s arms or give up this feeling. He was safe and happy here so he buried himself closer to Nico with a content sigh.

“Will,” Nico whispered. Will could feel his lips and hot breath on the top of his head as Nico said his name. It sent shivers of happiness through him.

“Nico,” Will whispered into Nico’s chest with a smile. “I love you.” He felt Nico’s body tense then slowly pull away. He whined at the loss of Nico’s embrace, frowning as he opened his eyes to stare up at Nico.

“I’m a monster, Will.” Nico said, face a perfect emotionless mask. “You cannot love me.”

Will sat up, eyes never leaving Nico’s. “But I do. I don’t care if your a monster. You are gentle and kind despite how cruel humans have been to you just because you are a monster.” A sad sigh escaped him as he looks away off to a random spot in the room. “It is okay if you don’t feel the same way. I’m just another pathetic human so...” He was cut off by Nico suddenly kissing him. It all happened so fast that he was just barely closing his eyes at the feeling by the time Nico pulled away.

“You are not some pathetic human, Will.” Nico said with so much emotion as he stared into Will‘s now open eyes. They were still so close that Will could feel Nico’s breath mix with his.

“You are amazing.” Nico continued. “Always putting on a brave face to keep those around you happy. Always thinking about other people’s happiness instead of your own. And you smile,” he breathed. “Gods, your smile. I would do anything to keep that beautiful smile on your face. You deserve nothing but happiness in your life. Not this monster born of darkness.”

Will just brought their lips together once more, his hands making their way to gently cup either side of Nico’s face. Kissing Nico was like a breath of fresh air that he didn’t realize he even needed. He had kissed other people before, but none of them could compare to this. Nico’s lips fit his perfectly like they were made for each other.

Nico pulled away, “Will, we can’t. It is too dangerous.”

“I don’t care.” Will said with a smile. “I love you Nico. Nothing is going to change that.”

“Will,” Nico said with tears in his eyes, his thumbs rubbing Will’s cheeks. “It is because I love you that I can’t put you in this danger. If I lost you...”

“You won’t lose me,” Will said confidently even though he knew that wasn’t true. He was just a weak human and Nico was a powerful monster.

“Will, you’re human.” Nico cried. “You’ll grow up and grow old then leave me when your mortal life is over.”

“I’ll always be with you, Nico.” Will smiled as he took one of Nico’s hands and placed it over Nico’s heart. “Even in death my love for you will remain.”

“Will,” Nico whispered before drawing him back in for a kiss. Their hands over Nico’s heart laced together as the kiss deepened. Will smiled into the kiss as his free arm wrapped its way around Nico’s waist, bringing him closer and into his lap. He allowed Nico to gently push him down as the kiss only became deeper and more passionate.

“Ah hem,” a female voice coughed, causing both of them to fly apart in a panic at being caught.

“Hazel!” Nico shouted, his face so red Will was sure he was going to spontaneously combust. “Why are you in my room?”

Hazel’s golden eyes shimmered in amusement. “I guess I was correct to leave the door open.” Nico glared. “Sorry to interrupt your love fest, but Will’s mother just arrived with your mouse pet.”

Will shot off the bed like it bit him, “Ma’s here? Where is she? Is she okay?” He had been so focused on him being safe from his former step-father that he didn’t even think that if he disappeared what they might do to his mother.

Hazel chuckled, “She is fine. A little dazed from the shadow travel, but fine.” She nodded her head to the side, “She is downstairs in the kitchen if you want to see her.”

“Thank you,” Will said quickly before darting out the door downstairs to where his mother was.

“Ma!” Will shouted as he rushed into her arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry for what baby?” Naomi asked as she returned the hug.

“That I forgot that Kyle might do something to you if I disappeared.” Will answered.

Naomi chuckled as he pulled away from the hug so she could look her son in the eye. “That awful excuse for a man could do nothing to me. No, I asked Shelly to bring me to you. When Shelly showed up to the house without you I knew something must have happened. Are you okay, sweetie pie?”

“I’m fine, Ma.” Will smiled. “Nico rescued me again.”

Naomi gave him a knowing smile, “That boy has always been fond of you.” Her eyes looked up the stairs to where Nico and Hazel were. “Don’t think I didn’t notice all those times you lurking in the shadows young man. I know you’ve been following him around and keeping him out of trouble.”

“Got caught,” Hazel laughed as she elbowed her blushing brother.

“Shut up, Hazel!!” Nico hissed as he buried his face in his hands.

“It’s quite alright, Nico.” Naomi chuckled. “Little William here likes you too.”

“Maaaa,” Will groaned, heat rising to his face. He was glad his mother was safe, but did she have to embarrass him in front of Nico and Hazel?

“Don’t worry Mrs. Solace.” Hazel giggled. “They already had a long love confession.”

“Oh did they now?” Naomi asked with a raised eyebrow and a pointed look at Will. “I hope you two boys were being safe at least.”

“MA!” Will squeaked, his face now so hot that the rest of his body felt cold. “We should be going now!” He desperately tried to drag his mother to what he assumed was the front door. It seemed that between Nico’s sister and his own mother that they were going to be in a world of embarrassment. He should count his blessings in the fact that they weren’t home otherwise he was sure him mother would pull out all the naked baby pictures of him. Why did parents have to be so embarrassing?

Hazel appeared in front of the door from the shadows. “I’m sorry. But it isn’t safe for you two to leave. I’ve been tracking the monster hunters that have teamed up with that Kyle guy.” Her golden eyes fixed on Will. “Since you were shadow traveled in front of them, they now know you are connected to Nico. They have been after him for centuries.” She smiled. “So for now, make yourself comfortable. I can show you to your rooms and once it is safe we’ll grab some of your stuff to bring back here.”

“You are too kind,” Naomi smiled. “But we don’t want to impose.”

“Your safety is more important,” Nico said, his eyes locking with Will’s as he came down the stairs.

“Hazel,” Naomi said as she grabbed Hazel’s hand. “Why don’t we give the boys some privacy while you show me around the house?” The two of them shared knowing looks before disappearing into the house. If Will could blush anymore, he probably would. A quick glance up at Nico showed he wasn’t fairing any better.

“So...” Will said softly, aimlessly scratching at his cheek not really sure what to really do. “Guess we are stuck together now?”

Nico’s twitched into a small smile, “I guess we are.”

Will stepped closer to brush the hair out of Nico’s eyes. “Good. Because those seven years of not being able to see you were awful. I’m not about to let you go now.”

“You’re such a strange child, Will.” Nico chuckled.

“But I’m your strange child,” Will whispered as he wrapped on arm around Nico’s waist to pull him close, their faces practically touching. “And you are my monster.”

“I will always be your monster,” Nico whispered before he pulled Will into a kiss. Will smiled into the kiss. Maybe it was a good thing he was now a fugitive human. At least this way he got to stay with Nico, hopefully forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think!!! Just the Epilogue is left! I'm so proud of myself for actually making it by 10 chapters like I said. XD woot woot!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, finally able to work on this and finish it up. I hope you enjoy the ending!

Epilogue:

“No!” Nico shouted at his husband. Ten beautiful years had gone by with Will at his side. Ten blissful years with the help of his sister and Will’s friend Lou Ellen changing the mind of monster hunters around the world. A wedding between a human and a monster as proof that they could exist together. Even if his marriage to Will hadn’t helped disband most of the monster hunters he still would have married him. He would give anything to Will, except this. He would not turn Will into a monster. It was too dangerous and had been forbidden ages ago. While monster law stated that they weren’t supposed to harm humans, some did out of self defense while others used it to provoke. Just like there were terrible humans, the same went for monsters as well. Some monsters felt that humans should be their pets and that monsters were the superior race. In their quest to make monsters rule the world, they developed a way to turn humans into monsters. Something Will discovered while researching the various medical texts on monsters that Nico had in his library. While most of the monster hunters had been disbanded, there were still some that wished to destroy them. So Will was not able to go to medical school and instead used the various medical texts and the help of some medically trained monsters to learn instead.

“Please, Death Boy.” Will begged using his big blue puppy dog eyes and the nickname that Nico secretly loved, but refused to admit it. “If I can stay by your side forever then it is worth the risk.”

“And if you die in the process?” Nico frowned, jaw clenched as he tried to keep the tears at bay. He knew that with Will being human he would die eventually. Still, he was not too keen on speeding up the process. He wanted to Will to live his life to its fullest. And when the time did come when Will passed away then Nico would follow. He would just let himself fade back into the shadows that had his father had used to create him. He never told Will any of this because he knew how much Will would argue it.

“Nico,” Will whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “Please.” He pressed their foreheads together. “I know you. You say you’ll be fine after my death, but I know that isn’t true. I don’t want you to be alone, ever. Let me become a monster.”

Nico sighed as he took his husband’s hand and kissed the wedding ring. “Will, I know I am going to lose you eventually. Please don’t ask me to do something that might take you away from me sooner.”

“Nico,” Will smiled. “I’m too stubborn to leave you now. Hazel and Lou Ellen have worked out a safer way to do it.”

“And what does your mother think of this?” Nico asked hoping the mother card would help him win this argument. There weren’t many times that Nico had to use Naomi to get Will to stop something. Most of the time it was when Will was in one of his ‘doctor’ moods and would refuse to eat or sleep because he was in the middle of something. All it would take was one call to Naomi Solace and Will would listen. 

Will smirked, “I already talked to my mother. She says that as long as it is safe she has no problem.”

“You lied to your mother?” Nico asked knowing how much Will hated to lie in general yet alone to his mother.

“I didn’t lie to her Nico,” Will emphasized. “I told you that Hazel and Lou Ellen have found a safer way to do it.”

“As much as I trust my sister and your friend,” Nico sighed. “I am not about to bet your life on some theory that they have made the process safer. It is forbidden for a reason Will.”

“It has been tested,” Will said confidently.

“WHAT?!” Nico shouted. “Will, you didn’t do it already did you? How could you still ask when you already did it!?” Sure they had plenty of arguments over this topic over the past couple months, but he never thought Will would do it behind his back. What if something had happened to him and Nico wasn’t there? He could have lost the love of his life without even knowing it was going to happen. Since when did Will start keeping secrets from him? What monster had turned him?

“Hey, hey,” Will said softly wiping the tears from Nico’s cheeks that he didn’t even realized he was crying. “I didn’t do it. I would never do something like that without you there. I want it to be you and only you to turn me.” Nico looked into those beautiful blue eyes and knew that Will was telling the truth. Because Will hated lying, he was terrible at telling them as well.

“Who then?” Nico asked quietly. 

“Cecil,” Will said with a heavy sigh.

“And who turned him?” Nico groaned as he rested his head on the palm of his hand. This was not a good idea. He knew that Cecil was one of Will’s best friends but turn him into a monster probably wasn’t the smartest. He was already a trouble maker as it was. The monster community didn’t need him causing more trouble for them.

“Annabeth did,” Will said. “So at least she’ll be able to keep an eye on him.”

“Oh gods,” Nico groaned again. “He is a sphinx monster? How is that a good idea?”

“Would you rather him confuse everyone with riddles or have actual powers to destroy things with?” Will asked. “If anything it only makes him more annoying than he already was.”

“Fair point,” Nico sighed. “But still. We can’t just be turning humans into monsters just because they want to become one.”

“I already talked to monster and human counsel,” Will smiled. “Only if a monster and human marry and stay married after ten years will it be allowed. Cecil was the exception to make sure that it was safe. He volunteered himself and has proven to be someone that can be trusted. If not, then Annabeth owns his ass.”

“We haven’t been married ten years, Sunshine.” Nico corrected. 

“I know,” Will acknowledged. “We could be the other exception. You know, since we kind of are the ones that started this whole movement.”

Nico looked up into Will’s eyes with a frown. He didn’t want Will to be a monster, but he also didn’t want to face the fact that Will would die if he stayed human. There was still the chance that something could happen to him regardless if he turned into a monster or not. Apparently Kyle had never given up the hunt to find Will and rid him of the demon inside. It was why they never stayed in one place too long.

“Take your time,” Will said softly before he placed a chaste kiss to Nico’s lips. “Just remember, that all I’m asking is to stay by your side forever.”

Nico took a deep breath, wrapping his arms around Will tightly. In reality, turning Will into a monster wouldn’t necessarily change anything about him. Even with his sister and Lou Ellen making the process safer he was still worried. Becoming a sphinx monster was one thing, but becoming a shadow of death monster was another. It didn’t suit Will at all. Will wasn’t born out of the shadows of death like he was. Will was born into the light. 

Will chuckled as he rested his head on top of Nico’s, “I can hear you thinking. You are thinking that your type of monster doesn’t work for me.”

“But it is true,” Nico mumbled into Will’s chest. “You are and always will be the opposite of me.”

“Nico,” Will chuckled again. “I will always be your Sunshine no matter what. I promise.”

Nico groaned knowing he was losing the battle. As much as he hated the idea of Will becoming a monster of his own creation, the thought of being beside him forever was just so much nicer. He wouldn’t have to watch Will grow old and suffer from his body slowly giving out on him. He pushed himself away.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But I want to look to see if there is a way to make you immortal without turning you into a monster first.”

“There isn’t,” Will said with a smile. “But I’ll give you time to see if there is.”

Nico brought Will in for a kiss. There was a way. His father had once tried to use it on the person he and his sister’s appearances were based around. However, where his father had failed, he would succeed. He had kept it a secret for the same reason why they couldn’t just create more monsters. It was dangerous and upset the natural order of the world. He had almost destroyed it more times than once, but he never could. There was just something inside him that prevented him from doing so. He figured that maybe there was something called Fate which made him keep it so he could use it now. Still, he would have to research a bit to make sure it was safe.

***

After two years of doing his research, he finally figured out where his father had gone wrong. He hadn’t sacrificed enough. In order for the spell to work, Nico had to give up half of himself to Will. Meaning that while they would live much longer than an average mortal world. They would eventually age and die. Honestly, that didn’t seem to terrible at all. They could spend so much time together and rest in peace together when their time finally came to an end. Even better, in Nico’s opinion was that if either of them died before they were supposed to, the other would follow. Their souls would be forever linked. A bond more final than anything else. Of course Will agreed to it and when the spell was finally complete, neither of them could keep the smiles off their faces. They were and always would be one from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for everyone that supported this story from start to finish. Who knew that this was going to be a story after I posted it to be just a one shot.
> 
> :D stay safe out there!


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